People Change
by oneofthefreepeople
Summary: Damon has a problem, something that he'd rather not talk about. Bonnie is the cause of it and the one he ultimately asks to help him. Bamon pairing.
1. Chapter 1

AN: First Bamon fic. Hope you like it. Takes place in season 2.

Disclaimer: I don't own VD. bla bla.

He watched her from across the room. She was resting her head in her hand, exhausted from the night that they had been through. With her hair falling in messy curls down over her back and small cuts on her arms from the fight. He would never know how she managed to still be so undeniably beautiful when in such a mess .He watched those eyes, the ones that haunted his dreams at night and refused to leave his mind when he was awake. In his dreams, they were always pleading with him, looking at him like she was begging him for mercy, for forgiveness. He couldn't figure out why it bothered him so much in the beginning. The dreams tortured him more than anything else she had done to him in the past. He preferred being burned to death than doing something so horrible or frightening that she would look at him as if she was afraid of what he might do to her. He used to love it when she looked at him with fear in her eyes and he can't deny that the sound of her increasing heartbeat was once very exciting to him. It still is but in a different way.

He knew that things had slowly changed between him and the witch. They still argued and threw death threats to each other when they were forced to be in the same room. He had a feeling that would never change, but lately he had been feeling so drawn to her. When they were in the middle of a heated argument about something trivial, he would look down into her green eyes and just lose himself in their dept for a little while. She never noticed, she probably assumed that he was constructing his arguments. In those few moments, he allowed himself to see her as something different than his enemy. He gave himself permission to wonder how things could've been between them if he hadn't been responsible for the death of her grandmother. For a couple of seconds, he imagines her fingers in his hair, stroking him softly and kissing him slowly; whispering that she loves him. When those few seconds are over, everything goes back to normal again. He never looks back on those moments, not even when he tries to fall asleep at night.

He had been watching her closely since the dreams started. He tried to detect if she had anything do to with it but she never gave an indication that she was aware of his night horrors. He was almost relieved that she didn't know that he dreamt of her if she hadn't been the one to influence him. He considered the fact that another vampire might be invading his dreams but that soon seemed very unlikely. He had always had a strong mind. Even Katherine could never invade his consciousness and he knew how that had angered her. He even thought that it might be karma; he had killed a lot of people during his time as a vampire but nightmares seemed like a little too low punishment for his actions, no matter how much it unsettled him to see Bonnie limbs tremble in fear and her eyes startled by the horror she found in him.

Right now the whole gang was at the Grille. They had just defeated another rouge group of vampires that had tried to destroy the town. They had succeeded in killing the vampires thanks to Bonnie. She had been able to give their enemies aneurisms while Stefan and he had stabbed them through all through the heart. Caroline and Tyler were watching over the Gilberts that night so that Elena and Jeremy wouldn't do anything stupid like they always did. They had all agreed that it would be better for them all if the battle was kept a secret to Elena and Jeremy but they found out anyway. The Gilberts had always been a sneaky bunch ever since he could remember. After they had killed the vampires they had decided to meet at the Grille and celebrate. He had been exhausted and thirsty, Elena and Stefan were having their reunion, Tyler and Caroline were trying to cheer up Jeremy, who was pissed about missing out on the fight and Bonnie, who sat alone at the bar with a single shot of untouched tequila in front of her. He walked up and sat down on the chair next to her.

"What do you want now, Damon? I'm not in any condition to give you an aneurism right now." She said and her voice sounded strained, as if every word was a challenged to form.

"Lucky me. Actually that wasn't what I came here for... I wanted to make sure you were okay." His voice was nonchalant and she turned around to look at him.

"I'm supposed to believe that? Come on, Damon, just get it off your chest so that I can reject it quicker!" she was annoyed now. She wondered what else he could want from her after all that she had done tonight. How could he expect her to help him with something else right now? She was having trouble with sitting without falling off the chair and he expected her to be helpful right now? There was no way in hell she was doing anything of that sort tonight.

"Seriously, I didn't come here to argue with you or to ask for something. I just wanted to make sure you didn't die from the backlash. I wouldn't want to be responsible for you dying with Elena close by, contrary to popular belief I don't always have a death wish. Sorry, I won't make the mistake of prying again." He was annoyed by her lack of faith. He ordered himself a glass of whiskey from the bartender. He kept his back to her while he waited for his drink. When he got it he swallowed it down in one gulp and glanced down at her drink.

"Aren't you a little too young to be drinking that, witch? Here I thought you were too much of a prude to ever try to break the rules. You just keep proving that you're not what you appear to be."

She smiled a little and relaxed. Her eyes closed for a moment while she responded.

"Well, I'm currently blackmailing the bartender. You shouldn't make me out to be so judgmental, Damon."

He chuckled softly at that.

"My my. You continue to surprise me, Bennett. I have to say I'm impressed."

"You should be. Sooner or later I'll cross over to the dark side to join your cause, Salvatore. You should worry about what's going to happen then. If I were you I would watch my back and sleep with one eye open when all this is over."

"What's with the sudden change in attitude, witch? I thought that we were making progress. "

"You and I will never make any progress. We are enemies that are forced to be allies against an even greater enemy. Don't make this out to be something that it's not."

"You and I both know that we're an explosion waiting to happen and if we don't get it out of our system, this could turn into a nuclear bomb. You don't want that, cara. I know you. You want to prevent that from happening and I'm telling you that there is no way out of it other than to surrender to your instincts."

"You shouldn't be fooled by anything you think I feel towards you, Damon. You forget that I still hate you."

"Come on! Drop the freaking act already! I know and you know that you don't hate me. This thing – "He gestured between them. " – is not going away just cause it's inconvenient for you. You like me… and I know how hard it is for you to accept that but you do so get over it."

She stood up.

"I'm not going to listen to this nonsense. I'm going home. Tell Elena and Caroline that I want to be alone tomorrow and that I'll call them after I've had some sleep. "

She left and he sat there, looking at her untouched drink. She wasn't cooperating with him on this. She refused to accept that the chemistry was there. She wanted to ignore the whole thing, deny that she was attracted to him. That fact didn't stop him from following her to her house. He watched from her porch as she walked up the steps from her car. She looked up and noticed him standing there. She rolled her eyes and pushed her hand down in her pockets to find her keys. She pulled them up and unlocked the door. She was about to close it behind her when he said something.

"I've been having dreams about you. They're not the fun ones where you're not wearing any clothes, those I wouldn't mind. You're always looking at me like you're afraid of what I might do to you, like I'm going to tear your limbs apart. I need it to stop…or I'm relatively sure I'll go insane. "

She sighed. This night seemed to throw all kinds of challenges her way but she had to admit that this wasn't something she would ever suspect from the eldest Salvatore.

"Come in, Damon."


	2. Chapter 2

He stepped through the doorway with a little hesitance. She watched how carefully he moved his feet and how he visually relaxed when he was inside the house. He looked around, never having been invited into her home before and was surprised by the lack of personality in the house. The little witch had always been a firecracker and he had expected her house to be as colorful as she was but there was no sign of her residence in this house. The only proof that she lived here was a picture of her and a woman he assumed to be her mother on a shelf in the hallway. In the picture Bonnie was smiling, one of those smiles she never bestowed on him and probably never will. He stopped by it and studied it for a while. She could be happy in an effortless way that lights up an entire room like the sun. She, truly, was beautiful, even as a child. Bonnie kept walking through a door that led into the kitchen and hopped up to sit at the kitchen counter. He hurried after her and leaned against the refrigerator with his eyes on the floor. She was the first to speak.

"When did they start?"

He inhaled and exhaled, frustrated over opening himself up for her to see clearly without any protection between her mind and his. He liked spreading his own misery in his wake but that was with other people, and it didn't include sharing his most secret and suppressed emotions.

"About two months ago. It happened once and I thought it was just some unconscious reminder of what I did back at the ruins." He sighed again, remembering the taste of her blood. It could still make him feel lightheaded.

"You used to fear me. I used to make your pulse spike just by standing near you. I had that much power over you. Now it's the reverse. You have the advantage over me now. I'm finding it hard to adjust."

She frowned at his confession. She never thought that it bothered him so much that nobody, in their little gang, feared him anymore. He used to be the protagonist that everyone else moved around; the chess player who gave the idea of ignorance but could win the game at any given time. Now he was just another player in the game; the most valuable one but still just a player.

"Does it... Are you feeling overlooked? Is that it?"

He scoffed.

"I'm a little more complex than that, little witch."

"What do you want me to say? I don't know why you have these dreams or if they are supposed to teach us something. I'm not your friend, Damon. . . I can't be."

She looked at him with a tired expression and there were tears welling up in her eyes. She sniffed and looked the other way to dry her tears so that he wouldn't see them fall. She didn't want him to know that it bothered her that he was losing sleep over nightmares about her. She did feel that tension in the air when he was near but she tried her best to ignore it. There was no way that she could give into him; she refused to be another one of those women he had turned into insecure little girls. When she was sure that her emotions were locked away in a box again she turned to look at him again only to find him a few inches from her face. He was staring at her so intensely that she thought he might attack her. There was no fear in her for him this time. She knew that he wasn't going to harm her. He moved closer so that he was standing between her legs with his hands on either side of her on the countertop. She felt her body heat up at his proximity and she was glad she was sitting down.

"I know how confusing it is. That feeling of betraying all the people you care about. You feel as if you're letting them down by letting yourself care for someone who is nothing short of a monster. You feel guilty and ashamed that you can ignore all that darkness and menace within the object of your affections enough to care for them. That you are lost and there is no way to go back. You can't flee and you can't hide from it. Denial only works for a limited amount of time, witch and yours is running out."

She froze as he spoke. She never thought that he would know of the mess of emotions she felt when she thought of him; hate and acceptance mixed with something she was afraid to put a label on.

"You think that you will do to me what Katherine did to you?" her voice wasn't steady and her breathing quickened.

"The difference between me and Katherine is that I don't want to take everything away from you. I don't want to ruin you. "There was a long pause where neither of them said anything.

"I just need you to acknowledge that what I'm feeling is real and that it's there and that I'm not making this up in my head, okay?"

His words had a final feeling and when she looked up to answer him, he wasn't there anymore. She nodded to herself as she thought:

_'If that's what you need then that's what I'll give you' _

_xXx_

Like this chapter? I know I took a little time uploading it but it's been a busy week. I'll be better for the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Hi guys. As promised I uploaded the new chapter quicker than before. There might be a few events mentioned in the chapter that is not consistent with the chronological order of the show but bear with me, please?

As always, reviews are golden.

Happy reading!

**xXx**

She didn't see him again for almost a week. He took off somewhere and Stefan told her not to look for him, that he will come back when he has gotten over whatever it was that made him leave. Hearing Stefan say that it wasn't unusual for Damon to disappear for a few days was soothing to her nerves. She would never admit it to Stefan but she was worried about his brother. When he left her house that night it felt as if he had reached his limit. It felt as though he was letting her off the hook. He had come to terms with the fact that they couldn't be what he wanted… what he needed them to be. He had seen that he was fighting a lost cause, that she could never forgive him for what he had taken from her. He just wanted her to tell him that while she could never feel that way about him, she still felt the pull between them. Then why did she feel so restless now when she knew he wasn't going to annoy her with his constant presence at her side or his wicked comments? Why did she lay awake all night wondering where he was and if he was okay? She didn't want him to suffer; she never wanted to see him so shattered and raw because of her. She wasn't supposed to have this power over his well being. She wasn't supposed to care about what happened to him. It was ridiculous.

When he finally stumbled into town again he was beyond drunk and she couldn't help the guilty feeling in her gut when she saw the state he was in. His clothes were torn and had several big holes across his chest and stomach and she saw many scars that were not properly healed yet, probably because of the lack of blood in his system. A cold shiver went down her spine when she saw Stefan and Alaric drag him in from the car as she and Elena watched them helplessly.

"We found him at the Grill. It's a miracle he's still conscious." Stefan frowned and sounded worried now as he and Alaric put Damon down on the couch in the living room. Damon groaned when he opened his eyes only to be blinded by the bright light from the chandelier. Bonnie was on her knees next to him and looked him in the eye.

"Are you going to stick around long enough for me to check your memories this time or should I just guess where you've been this last week?"

Her voice didn't mask the concern for him that she had developed over these last few days. She felt like he took a part of her with him and she's been aching for it even since. It had no rational explanation and she refused to acknowledge that she might have deeper feelings for him than she had thought.

"I think you know where I've been...or at least you know more than I do." His words were slurry and Bonnie rolled her eyes at him. He didn't make any sense. She felt like she was talking to a small child.

She sighed and put her hand against his face. He leaned into her hand so ever slightly but she felt it. Images of bars and women and Scotch invaded her mind and she could hardly make sense of what he had been up to. She comforted herself with the fact that he hadn't hurt anyone in his drunken madness. She saw that his dreams of her had lessened when he was intoxicated. She saw how he kept drinking to stay up high where he didn't have to deal with the reality just yet. She saw a lot of women flirting with him and even more giving him an extra glance but he didn't pursue any of them. He just sat at the bar, nursing his Scotch.

All the sudden she felt a barrier go down between him and her. She was startled by the sudden collapse of his walls and realized that he was unconscious. Feelings that were not hers flooded her senses and she almost lost herself in the sharp, stabbing pain he had been feeling. The ache he had been walking around with for a week since he knew that his last attempt at convincing her that he wasn't going to hurt her failed. She couldn't forgive all his actions and he wasn't surprised but he had convinced himself that maybe he had a chance to redeem himself in her eyes, maybe it wasn't too late. He later mocked himself for being so naïve. She could never care for him, never love him in the intense, all-consuming way he loved her; the only way Damon knew how to love. He had known that there had never been any chance for them to be what he wanted; he just needed her to tell him that without blaming it on Elena.

More images of her flashed through her eyes. She saw herself and she was shocked. He watched her like a hawk whenever she showed the faintest sign of collapsing from the drain the magic had on her. He watched her as she laughed with Elena and Caroline over lunch at the Grill. She saw how he knew every freckle on her face, every speck of gold in her green eyes. She felt his undeniable desire for her. His attention was always directed towards her and he let his eyes glance over the graceful curve of her neck and her never ending legs. She could feel his attraction and it was more powerful than anything she had ever experienced. It fed her desire for him like gasoline to a fire.

She felt dizzy and overwhelmed with the additions to her own mess. How could he function properly with so many thoughts in his confused mind? If she had know two weeks ago that Damon Salvatore loved her; that he craved her touch more than he craved blood, she would never have believed it.

She removed her hand and stared at his sleeping figure for a minute or two. It was Elena that broke her trancelike state.

"Did he do anything? Bonnie, what happened? Are you okay?" Elena sounded worried, as usual.

"I'm fine. He just had a rough week, that's all. He didn't hurt anybody . . . You should move him somewhere else. "

"Why did he leave?" It was Alaric that asked the question everyone was thinking.

Bonnie looked down at Damon before meeting the curiosity in everyone's eyes.

"He's been having these dreams… nightmares. He hasn't slept much since they started. That makes me pretty sure that he won't be sleeping very long. I'll stay with him in case he wakes up."

Elena was looking at her with a frown and so was Alaric. Stefan was the only one who understood the sudden urge for Bonnie to take care of his older brother. He had seen the tears forming in her eyes while they carried Damon into the house. She had been staring at his brother with both sadness and relief. He was now convinced that something had happened between Bonnie and Damon before his brother left town so suddenly.

"She's right. He's been out most of the night and resting only a few hours during the day. I think that, since his room was torn apart by the werewolves, it's better to put him in the library instead. It's where he's been sleeping for the past month."

Bonnie sighed of relief at Stefan's quiet understanding and thanked him with a quick telepathic message. He smiled and sent a reply through the link between them.

"_Talk to him. He needs to know."_

She nodded. She didn't have to ask him what he was referring to.

Stefan and Alaric carried Damon up to the sofa in the library and put him down. It was a lot messier than normal in the Salvatore library. Bonnie saw torn books all over the floor and quickly averted her eyes from the chaos. She sat down next to Damon on the sofa. She stroked his hair and he moaned a bit in his sleep and arched his head into her hand. She smiled and a few tears fell from her eyes and landed on the pillow. She dried her cheeks and lay down next to him and tried to get as close to him as possible. She hoped he would wake up soon; she missed the sound of his voice more than she would admit out loud.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: HI guys. I just wanted to let you know that this is the final chapter. Thank you so much for all your reviews. I'll try to write more stories but I have revision for exams in school for the next two months and it'll be stressful. But, yes, on with the story. Enjoy.

Liz

xXx

Bonnie was lying with Damon's body situated half on her and half on the sofa. The weight of him felt very soothing and it made her relax. She had been with him all afternoon and he was still unconscious now when night had fallen. He made some sounds here and there but he seemed to be sleeping better than before he left. She knew he had been through a lot and he avoided sleeping longer than a few hours at a time just to keep the dreams at bay.

Suddenly Damon moaned softly and cuddled his face into her chest. She looked at him tenderly for a while and stroked his hair some more.

Damon made another noise and his breathing was quickening. A few moments later he opened his eyes, confused to find himself in the library. That's when he realized that he was sleeping on someone. He could feel a beating heart under his head and he breathed in the familiar scent. Her pulse started racing and she felt a familiar flush spread itself over her body. He felt his mouth watering at the smell of the blood in her veins but caught himself and tried to focus on her eyes rather than her neck.

"Hey." His voice was still filled with sleep and its raw, husky sound made her shiver.

"Hi… Feeling better now?"

"As instead of what? From what I _can't_ recall, I'm guessing I've been pretty out of it for the last few days."

She looked down at her hands and shifted away from him to the other side of the sofa. His body screamed at her to return to his side with her warmth. Her heat felt so good against his skin and he wanted her close so that he could lose himself in her neck and rest there. The feelings startled him as he, up until that point, hadn't been so dependent on the physical touch of someone else, not even Elena.

"Stefan and Alaric found you down at the Grill. They got you home. Do you remember that?" He could hear the concern and doubt in her voice and it pained him that he couldn't remember if they had said to one another.

"Not really… But I didn't have any . . . dreams so at least that was an improvement. Care to enlighten me on the issues of yesterday?" he desperately wanted to know if she had said anything of significance to him that he couldn't remember.

"What is there to say? You were drunk and had no memory whatsoever of where you had been. There's nothing more worth mentioning…"

He knew she was hiding something; her voice was too hurried. Why had her hand been in his hair? Why had his head been resting on her chest? There were so many questions flowing around in his head that it made his hangover much worse. He groaned and put his head in his hands and sighed.

"You okay?"

Bonnie looked worriedly at him and saw how he rubbed his temples with his fingers.

"Even vampires get hangovers if they try hard enough. I'll be fine as long as I get some blood in my system."

She got off the bed and went to his dresser and opened the first drawer and took out a couple of bags of blood. She took a glass from the coffee table and filled it up with the red liquid. She gave it to him and he drank it greedily. He put the glass down and studied her from where she stood near the wall on the other side of the room.

"Why can't you just let me in on what happened yesterday? I will find out eventually, you know. It'll be better if you tell me."

"I don't know why you assume that I'm withholding information from you. Not everyone lies, you know. Some people can actually be capable of telling the truth."

She had closed her eyes and when she opened them she saw Damon standing a few inches from her face. He cocked his head to the side.

"Ah, but I know that. I know you to be one of them at times but something tells me you're not being completely honest with me. Sooo… I think you should just give it up and fill me in on the _fun_ I missed out on."

She stepped back and hit the wall. He stood right in front of her and refused to move an inch. He was challenging her to make him move but there was something in his eyes that stopped her from forcing him to get away from her.

"I know what you've been feeling lately… the pain, the confusion. I'm sorry for being the reason for your misery. "

He shook his head, angry with the formality of her apology.

"Is that all you can say? That you're sorry? Like I'm some random guy you just met? Well, I'm not! You and I are more than that, Bonnie! You at least owe me the truth."

She threw her head back in frustration and yelled at him.

"What do you want from me?! I don't know what you want me to say!"

His eyes glowed in the faint light of the giant moon that was on its way down on the horizon to give place for the sun to rise and for a new day to commence.

"I want you to admit that you care for me! I want you to admit that this whole "I-like-you-but-we-can-never-be-together-because-of-previous-mistakes" shit is real."

"I _do_ care for you! Are you happy now?! Are you glad that you finally got me to-"

He broke her off by pulling her to him and kissing her with a scorching passion that left marks on her soul that would never fade away. She pushed with her hands on his chest but he wouldn't move away. His hands found her waist and her knees went weak when his tongue grazed her bottom lip. He caught her and held her close to him. He backed her towards the couch and laid her gently on it. He was resting with his head on her chest, feeling it rise and fall with every breath she took.

"I love you." Her voice was only a mere whisper but he heard it.

He looked up into her eyes and saw that they were filled with tears.

"Is it painful? To love me?"

She smiled sadly and one of her hands came up to the nape of his neck and stroked his hair.

"Sometimes. Especially when you just disappear like that. I just need you to know that I want and need you as much as you do me. You taking off for a while affect me too. There are more people than you involved now, Damon. "

He felt warmth in his body when she said that she needed him. She wanted him to be hers. No other woman would ever receive a glance from him again. The thought of being hers forever made him feel drunk with joy.

She buried her face in his hair and breathed in his scent. He smelled like leather and rain. The faint smell of alcohol was still present but she didn't notice it that much.

"It's almost morning. You still need to sleep some more."

"If you sleep, I'll sleep."

She smiled at his proposal and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"I don't have a bed. Your place?"

She chuckled and let him lead her to her car. They were silent all the way to her house. When she let him in he felt like everything was right with the world. When they reached her bedroom he pulled her close and buried his head in her hair. He removed her jacket and shoes while she did the same with him. She lay down on the bed and looked at him where he stood in front of her. His eyes gleamed in the faint sunlight and he smiled at her. He curled up next to her and pulled her body so that it was against his own. He put his arms around her and breathed into her hair, loving the smell of her shampoo.

"I love you. " his voice was a mere whisper.

For once in Damon's life it was enough, he was enough, for the one he loved.

**Hope you guys liked it. **

**XO**

**L**


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